1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of furnace systems for smelting ore concentrates and provides a novel system of partition walls to separate the various portions of the furnace from each other, the partition walls being modular in nature and being readily assembled and disassembled as required for replacement.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a known pyrometallurgical furnace system as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,555,164, fine-grained ore is continuously calcined and smelted in an oxygen-rich gas atmosphere. The molten mass and the gas formed as well as dust are separated from each other in a smelting chamber. The gas and dust are withdrawn in an exhaust gas shaft adjacent to the smelting chamber, and the molten mass and slag collected on the floor of the smelting chamber pass under a furnace partition which depends from the roof and dips into the molten mass. The molten mass and slag pass under the partition into a settling hearth for further treatment of the molten material and removal of the slag.
The furnace walls in such an installation come into contact with hot, corrosive gases as well as with hot metal or with a hot slag bath and so have to be absolutely fire resistant and capable of being cooled. In the prior art furnace, the partition dipping into the molten bath and extending over the entire width of the furnace for separating the settling hearth from the melt collecting space is a wall suspended from the ceiling of the furnace and provided with cooling channels. Such partition walls cannot be lined with brick, for example, because of the excessive wear due to the corrosive slag melt. As mentioned, such a partition must not only be cooled but it should be fashioned as a self-bearing structure. If the entire furnace partition were made of a single piece of a metallic cooling element, then the partition due to its weight and size could not as a practical matter be transported and assembled. Thermal stresses in the partition would not equalize, and worn parts of the partition could not be replaced. Alternatively, if the furnace partition were welded together from a plurality of metallic cooling elements, the welding at the construction site would involve considerable time and costs.